By Dan Ambrose: In a major disappointment, the California State Athletic Commission has cancelled ALL combat cards through March because of the COVID 19 pandemic.
This impacts Golden Boy Promotions’ card on March 28 headlined by welterweight contender Virgil Ortiz Jr. vs. Samuel Vargas at The Forum in Inglewood, California. The fight card was supposed to have been streamed on DAZN. In a statement from Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya, he says the fight card is now postponed as well as their March 19 card.
Earlier today, Top Rank Boxing revealed that their March 14 and March 17th cards at Madison Square Garden in New York will be held without the public present.
“Our March 19 and March 28 events, which were scheduled at Avalon Hollywood and the Forum respectively, have officially been postponed,” said De La Hoya in a news release he sent out today on the postponement of those two shows.
The coronavirus outbreak could also delay the announcement of the May 2 fight between Canelo Alvarez and Billy Joe Saunders. Golden Boy may choose to wait until they hear more information before that fight is eventually announced.
Another fight that could be impacted is the World Boxing Super Series final between IBF cruiserweight champion Yunier Dorticos and Mairis Briedis. That fight is scheduled for March 21 in Riga, Latvia.
It’ll be interesting to see if the fight goes ahead or not. Given all the postponements, it wouldn’t be surprising if this fight is cancelled or postponed. A lot of fans are looking forward to seeing this match, but who knows what’ll happen now. There’s expected to be an announcement soon on the status of the fight soon.
If this outbreak lasts for an extended period of time, the promoters at the fighters will need to figure something out. Staying inactive for a year or more would potentially wreck the careers of a lot of fighters. It’s hard to imagine fighters not competing for years on end waiting for the virus to eventually disappear.